Modi Failed to Understand the Indian Farmer: Hannan Mollah

New Delhi: Welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sudden decision to withdraw the three farm laws on Friday morning, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), which is part of the farmers’ collective Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and has been at the forefront of a year-long struggle, said they would “wait” till the repeal is formalised in Parliament and signed by the President of India.

“We have had bad experiences in the past. For instance, Modi, in 2014, had promised that the Land Acquisition Act would be repealed. To date, the repeal has not materialised,” said AIKS general secretary Hannan Mollah while addressing a press conference here on Friday.

Explaining what led to Modi’s announcement, Mollah said: “Narendra Modi might have understood Trump and Biden (US Presidents), but has failed to understand the Indian farmer,” adding that he was not shocked at all, and was expecting such a decision to be taken by the Centre.

He blamed the Prime Minister for being squarely responsible for the death of more than 700 farmers. “The delay in the decision to repeal has led to these deaths,” he claimed.

While celebrating the victory of the farmers’ struggle, the veteran farmer leader also called for restraint, saying only a “future danger” had been averted, and that the present challenges for farmers -- the lack of guarantee of a remunerative price through MSP -- remained, and that a “white law” was now needed, besides the repeal of the “black laws.”

On future plans, Mollah said the coordination committee of SKM would have a physical meeting on November 20 at the Singhu border protest site to analyse Modi’s announcement and take stock of the emerging situation.

“There are enough demands (on which) to continue the farmers’ movement, but what form this will take, the SKM will decide on Saturday,” he added.

General Secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) Sitaram Yechury visited AIKS office and congratulated AIKS leaders for the victory.

The others who addressed the press conference included AIKS president Ashok Dhawale, joint secretaries NK Shukla and Vijoo Krishnan, finance secretary P Krishnaprasad, All India Agricultural Workers’ Union (AIAWU) general secretary B Venkat and joint secretary Vikram Singh.

Dhawale thanked industrial and agricultural workers, students, youth, and women for their support and contribution to the farmers’ movement. He said with the repeal of farm laws, the government should also repeal the scrapping of the 44 Central labour codes into four labour codes, and demanded reduction of prices of essential commodities, petrol, diesel, and cooking gas, as well as halting of “the relentless sale of public infrastructure” by the Central government.

Dhawale informed the media that that the rally at Lucknow on November 22, Mahapanchayat in Mumbai on November 28, and the daily march of 500 farmers to Parliament from November 29 would go ahead as planned.

Asked if he was worried that the repeal would make it difficult to mobilise farmers, Vijoo Krishnan told NewsClick, “Farmers have seen through the game plan of the BJP government. They are going to keep in mind all that has happened to them over the last seven years, not just the last year. Even before these acts, the agrarian crisis in the Indian countryside was widespread because of the neoliberal policies pursued by the Modi government. So the direction that the movement will take now will be about issues like a legal guarantee of MSP, cancellation of the proposed electricity bill, and corporate-driven policies in general.’

Farmers from Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh have been blocking national highways connecting to Delhi since November 26, 2020, in a spirited protest against the reform laws brought by the Centre in September 2020. In the time that has passed, the movement has spread across the country, with farmer sections actively taking part in anti-BJP campaigning during Assembly elections.

Recently, farmers led by the SKM had launched ‘Mission UP’ and ‘Mission Uttrakhand’ campaign, a bid to dislodge BJP from the governments in these two states.